Monday, April 30, 2012

Marine authorities in north Queensland say they are at a loss to explain why the annual northern whale migration has started a month early.

Humpback whales traditionally migrate to the warmer waters of the Great Barrier Reef to give birth before returning south to feed. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) says whales are not usually spotted until late May or early June but are already being seen off the Queensland coast. GBRMPA spokesman Mark Read says scientists are unsure why the animals have arrived early. He says boaties need to be mindful the whales are around early.

"What it heralds we don't really know, but it's certainly timely to get the messages out to the key users of the marine park to look out for whales," he said. "We just need to bear in mind that an adult humpback whale can get to 15 metres and approximately 40 tonnes in weight. "If you're a person using the marine park and you're out there bobbing around in a little tinny, you really need to be mindful of how big these animals can be. "Just make sure that you're acting safely in terms of minimizing the risk." - ABC Australia.

At least three persons including a 76-year-old man was killed and 500
houses collapsed when rain storms swept different parts of Tripura,
official sources said on Sunday.

A 76-year-old farmer died in Dharmanagar town area and a 30-year-old man died in Panisagar in northern Tripura district when lightning struck them on Saturday, police said. A nine-year-old boy died of electrocution when he came in contact of live wire at Sonamura in Sipahijala district, police said.

The pre-monsoon rain accompanied by hailstorm swept different parts of the state collapsing at least 500 houses, uprooting many trees and electric posts. Security forces and civil defence volunteers were engaged in distribution of relief and immediate relieves were given to the next of keens of the deceased, official sources said. At least 12 persons had died within this month due to lightning and electrocution. - Hindustan Times.

Twenty six people were killed and 16 others injured Sunday after being struck by lightning in Howrah in West Bengal and various districts of Andhra Pradesh state.

Nine persons including two women of Santoshchak village, who took shelter under a tree after immersing an idol at Uttar Harishpur as it began to rain, were struck by lightning and died on the spot , PTI news agency quoted police as saying. They said 16 others were injured. West Bengal Agriculture Marketing Minister Arup Roy, who visited the bereaved families, said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has declared Rs 2 lakh as compensation to the family of each of the victims. In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, as many as 17 people died in different districts after being struck by lightning. The highest number of 10 deaths were reported from Guntur district and two deaths each in Khammam, Warangal and Prakasam, state Disaster Management Commissioner T Radha said. One more person died due to lightning elsewhere. Different parts of Andhra Pradesh have experienced squalls and rains since yesterday. - IRNA.

Six people have been confirmed dead after a landslide buried a work shed in southeast China's Fujian province last week, local authorities said Monday.

The disaster occurred at 3:30 p.m. on April 24 in Longdeyang village of Daqiao township, Gutian county, burying six people, according to the county government. Rescuers have retrieved five bodies, and have claimed there is no chance that the missing person has survived.

An investigation blamed illegal rare earth mining, recent rains and landslide-prone geological conditions for the disaster. Local police authorities have launched an investigation into the illegal mining activities. Two suspects have been apprehended by police. - Shanghai Daily.

Iran's first nuclear power plant in the Southern port city of
Bushehr is generating and sending 940 megawatts of electricity to the
national power grid, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran
(AEOI) Fereidoun Abbasi announced on Monday, April 30.

"940MW of nuclear-generated electricity has been sent to the national
grid," Abbasi said, adding that the Bushehr nuclear power plant had
produced 730MW of electricity since February and Iranian experts
succeeded in boosting its capacity to 940MW now.He reiterated
that the progress was made after Iranian experts and engineers managed
to conduct numerous experimental tests based on the power plants'
standards, according to Fars News Agency.

In 2011 Iran started using 500MW of nuclear-generated electricity, half the nominal capacity of the Bushehr power plant. Earlier, an Iranian Energy Ministry official had announced that Bushehr
power plant would reach its nominal power generation capacity after the
operation of the second phase of the plant in early summer. - Panarmenian.

Malaysian Meteorological Department director-general Datuk Dr Yap Kok Seng said yesterday the public should brace themselves for the worst in a calm and orderly manner if and when a tsunami strikes.

A member of the Malaysian Civil Defence Department giving aid to a
‘victim’ who ‘drowned’ during
a session at a tsunami preparedness
training exercise in Batu Ferringhi yesterday.

"With the unstable tectonic plates in Sumatra and Nicobar islands, our level of preparedness should be at its highest so rescue efforts can be carried out smoothly. Those in Penang, Perlis, Kedah and Perak must be extra careful." He said the public must follow orders given by disaster rescue teams and stay away from the shores when warned of an impending tsunami. "One of the warnings we use for an impending tsunami is the fixed line alert system. It will automatically call all fixed line telephones within 3km from the sea shores," he said.

The public would also be informed by phone of the assembly points in their respective areas. Yap said this after presenting certificates to participants at a tsunami preparedness training in Batu Ferringhi here yesterday. More than 300 people from the security forces, government agencies and students took part in a five-hour mock disaster rescue mission that included learning emergency first aid, evacuation assembly and crowd dispersal management. Penang is the first state to conduct the training, jointly organised by the department and the state National Security Council. The council's secretary Zakaria Ibrahim said similar training would soon be held in other states. - New Strait Times.

A leading expert at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is urging the Caribbean's 40 million people to be prepared for a tsunami, two years ahead of a planned early warning system for the region. Wendy Watson-Wright, assistant director-general and executive secretary of the UNESCO-Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, has agreed with other leading tsunami experts that it is a case of "when, not if" the region would be struck by the giant waves triggered by earthquakes and volcanic activity, Watson-Wright noted.

"Lurking beneath the azure waters that wash up on countless coastal and island beaches and vacation spots is the potential for a devastating tsunami," she said. In addition to the 40 million people living in the region, she said 22 million people visit the Caribbean annually, making the region "extremely vulnerable to the impacts of tsunamis". Since 1498 there have been at least 94 tsunamis with run-ups reported in the Caribbean region, causing 4,652 deaths, Watson-Wright said. She said most of these tsunamis were associated with underwater, or what are called submarine earthquakes, although the Caribbean Sea region has all of the potential tsunami-generating sources, such as submarine earthquakes, sub-aerial or submarine landslides and volcano activity. Scientists and disaster management officials have said that models predict a tsunami wiping out vast areas in several island nations where most people live in around capitals and low-lying coastal areas. "Sound science-based tsunami inundation modelling has been performed for all of Puerto Rico and several localities in the French Antilles and Venezuela, which demonstrates real tsunami threats for this region," the UNESCO expert said. She said the Indian Ocean Tsunami Early Warning System -- coordinated through UNESCO-IOC -- saved lives in that region following an 8.6-magnitude earthquake off northern Indonesia. "Largely due to education programmes, Indonesians living in coastal communities were able to mobilise and safely move to higher ground. As soon as the threat of a tsunami had passed, the all clear was sounded," Watson-Wright said in a statement here.

Despite the withdrawal of the United States from the UN body, which threatened to delay the introduction of an early warning system for the Caribbean, "emergency funds" were diverted to the project which is expected to be completed by 2014. "We expect the system to be in place by 2014, with the US having adopted a phased approach to establish a Caribbean Tsunami Warning Centre located in Puerto Rico," she said. Watson-Wright said that the installation of the Tsunami Early Warning System for the Caribbean was largely supported by the United States, among other countries, but lamented that following the vote of the General Conference to admit Palestine as a full member to UNESCO, "all funds were cut in adherence to US law. "The loss would have seriously delayed this important project," she said. Realising this, Watson-Wright said UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova assigned emergency funds to the Tsunami Early Warning System for the Caribbean earlier this year, "keeping us on track for our work." But the UNESCO official said the absence of the Caribbean early warning system does not mean the region is unprotected, as it is covered on an interim basis by the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre. Once implemented, she said the system in the Caribbean will enhance "our ability to evaluate data and ensure that timely information is passed on to authorities and most importantly the public, for the safety and security of all in the region". The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004 was one of the deadliest natural disasters in history, killing 230,000 people in 14 countries, mostly in Indonesia. Several coastal communities were inundated with waves as high as 30 metres (98 feet). - Jamaica Observer.

Moscow sweltered in unseasonable heat on Sunday, with temperatures of nearly 29 degrees Celsius (84.2 Fahrenheit), a record for April since data collection began 130 years ago, authorities said.

"At 4:00 p.m. (1200 GMT), the temperature reached 28.6 degrees Celsius, an absolute record for the month of April," an official from the Russian capital's weather service told the Interfax news agency. "The previous record for the month goes back to April 24, 1950, with 28 degrees," he added.

The mercury had already climbed to 26.3 degrees on Saturday. Several central and eastern European countries recorded unseasonably high temperatures on Saturday, with a record 32 degrees recorded in northern Austria. - Hurriyet Daily News.

An over water tornado has been reported off the coast of Bray,Co Wicklow, this morning.

The weather phenomena, also known as a seaspout, occurs over a body of water and is connected to a cumuliform cloud formation. They do not suck up water and the funnel cloud is water droplets formed by condensation. Seaspout are often associated with active weather fronts and can appear at during thunder, lightening or strong winds. Met Éireann said while it had no record of a tornado, the right conditions existed for one. - Irish Times.

A tornado touched down in the countryside of southern France on Sunday, presenting a spectacular opportunity for camera-wielding witnesses.

Only minor damage was reported, the EarthSky website said on Monday. A French website, Meteorologic, called the tornado an F-1, implying highest winds of 73-112 mph (about 115 to 180 km/h). The dust-laden funnel played beneath a thunderstorm near Toulouse, EarthSky said. This was confirmed by uploads of numerous videos posted Sunday to YouTube.com.

Weather observations from Toulouse available to AccuWeather.com showed thunderstorms in the area on late Sunday afternoon, local time. Weather maps showed that, at the time, a strong storm was centered off northwest France and southwest England, with cold front trailing south over southern France near Toulouse. Violent tornadoes are rare in France, EarthSky said. However, an Aug. 3, 2008, a twister tore through the town of Hautmont and several other towns, killing four people. - AccuWeather.

It is the wettest April on record, the Met Office says - and the rain is set to continue. Despite the drought and the hosepipe ban, much of England and Wales was braced for flooding today as further heavy rain continued to wreak havoc across the country. And, as if Britons needed confirmation of just how wet it has been, newly-released figures show the month so far has seen 'well above' average rainfall across the UK, with 97mm recorded - 140 per cent of the long-term monthly average.

Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, which was devastated by flooding in July 2007, was on alert with the Environment Agency setting up an incident room there along with two others in the Midlands and another in the Wessex area. Stretches of the Severn were at risk of bursting their banks following weather which will be an unwelcome reminder of Tewkesbury's flash floods in 2007, which claimed the lives of three people and left 350,000 people in the county without a supply of clean drinking water. The Environment Agency also warned of localised flooding across parts of southern and eastern England, the Midlands and Wales, with a total of 32 flood warnings and 160 flood alerts in place on its website today. And while residents of the south east could bask in temperatures of up to 19 degrees today, more heavy outbreaks of rain will be moving up from France. Met Office forecaster Tom Morgan said that so far April was the wettest since records officially began in 1914. He said: 'So far it is the wettest April in our records. We are seeing well above average rainfall, 97mm in the UK on average which is 140 per cent of the long term average. ''At the moment there is about 20 to 30mm and there is more rain to come. The wettest areas are in parts of the West Midlands, eastern Wales and south-west England.

''In 12 hours over the weekend we have seen 24mm in Liscombe in Somerset and 30mm in Hampstead in north London. ''There is a strong north-eastern wind which is quite an unusual direction for this time of year. ''It has led to some branches coming off trees and we have been some reports of disruption to roads from trees blocking them. ''We have a yellow warning out for the east and west, which warns the public to be aware of the risks and disruption. ''Winds have been around 50 to 60mph. We have already seen gusts of 50mph in quite a few places in South West England and South West Cornwall has seen around 60mph while London is a high 40mph. ''But overnight the winds eased across the South East and temperatures could reach 18 or 19 degrees. It will also dry up in London. ''But into this evening thundery rain will push up from France into the South and Tuesday will again see heavy outbreaks of rain which will get to 20 or 30mm in most areas. ''The rest of the week will more of a North and South divide, with the South remaining unsettled with some rain at times. ''It will definitely be a week to take an umbrella out. It is typical for this month but it has been exceptionally unsettled.' - Daily Mail.

Villarrica and Quetrupillan, Chile: It is always nice to get a two-for-the-price-of-one and in this false-color February 2003 shot, both Villarrica and nearby Quetrupillan
show up prominently. Villarrica is a much more active volcano than
Quetrupillan and in this image, the lava lake at the summit appears in
red. The lava lake at Villarrica is still there, 9 years later - in
fact, the volcano has been more active over the last few months, with small ash plumes and spattering from the lava lake. Quetrupillan, on the other hand, hasn't had an eruption since 1872 (which is also the only known historical eruption from the volcano).

Puyehue-Cordón Caulle, Chile: After nearly a year of activity, the eruption at Puyehue-Cordón Caulle seems to be over. No ash emissions have been spotted over the past few weeks and SERNAGEOMIN has lowered the alert status
at the yellow after the ash ended and seismicity continues its downward
trend, although the crater area has some noticeable incandescence at
night. The lack of ash-and-steam plumes means we can get a view of the
area around the volcano and where the deposits from the eruption has
affected. Once you see the image (see above), you realize that it isn't
even the zone adjacent to the volcano, but rather the ash spreads
hundreds of kilometers to the east across Argentina. Some of this ash
might make its way into the geologic record, but much of it is so thin
that the ash will be washed away by surface processes. It just shows
that even what seems like a large eruption might not leave a long-lasting widespread geologic legacy.

Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia: The elevated signs of activity continue at Colombia's Nevado del Ruiz with plumes reaching 900 meters above the crater and increased sulfur dioxide continues from the volcano. This image of Ruiz from 2010
shows the real threat from the volcano - the abundant snow and ice
around the Arenas crater (the center of current activity) means lahars
are likely the #1 volcanic hazard. El Tiempo has a report
about farmers who live in the area around the volcano and they express
concerns that sound familiar to many who see these volcanic crises
unfold: "who will make sure my property and animals are safe without me?" These concerns could cause residents to lose valuable time when they need to evacuate.

Valley of 10,000 Smokes, Alaska: 2012 marks the 100th anniversary
of the largest eruption of the 20th century - the June 1912 eruption
Novarupta in Alaska. The eruption actually involved multiple volcanoes,
with eruption from Novarupta, a new volcano vent formed during the 1912 eruption that prompted the collapse of nearby Katmai. The eruption formed the famous Valley of 10,000 Smokes, where the pyroclastic flow deposit spilled to the northwest and southeast. The name comes from the abundant plumes of steam
that came from the deposits years after the material was deposit as the
heat and gases in the deposit escaped. The image above was taken in 1994,
over 82 years after the eruption, and it is remarkable how much
volcanic debris is still moving through the rivers in the area - look
for more on the Valley of 10,000 Smokes anniversary later this spring.

Tambora, Indonesia: This International Space Station (ISS) image of the Tambora caldera in Indonesia just shows how impressive of a volcanic feature it is. The caldera is 6 kilometers across and the product of the 1815 eruption of Tambora. The volcano was rumbling towards the end of 2011,
prompting an elevation of the alert status, but recently the alert
status was lowered back to Green, meaning the activity was at background
levels. This doesn't mean there isn't activity across Indonesia as this
week saw activity at Lokon-Empung and Lamongan.

A new discovery from scientists has advanced the cause of those searching for extraterrestrial life. On Earth, all life is made up of DNA and RNA, molecules which can store and transmit genetic information.

Life: DNA is the major building block of life, but it is not the only possibility for organic material on other planets

But
now biologists have confirmed that at least six other types of molecule
can also support life, dramatically increasing the likelihood of life
on other planets. A team from the University of
Cambridge managed to manufacture synthetic XNAs (xeno-nucleic acids)
which mimic some of the properties of DNA and RNA. It
is crucial for organisms to be able to grow and reproduce in order for
life to be sustainable, so they must have a way to transfer genetic
material from one molecule to another. Although DNA and RNA are the only
naturally occurring structures on Earth to have this ability, the new
research proves that they are not the only possible paths to life. 'This
unique ability of DNA and RNA to encode information can be implemented
in other backbones,' Philipp Holliger, who led the research, told the Daily Galaxy.

The manufacture of the new XNAs was done by replacing the sugars which make up DNA with different varieties of sugars. A
major breakthrough was the ability to transfer genetic material from
DNA to synthetic XNA, then to a different strand of XNA via DNA again. It is in this transferral of material that there is the potential for genetic mutation, the process which sets off evolution. In principle, therefore, XNA could end up producing lifeforms as complex as those found here on Earth. The
new discovery means that it is not necessary for DNA to be present on
another planet for there to be a chance of life, a factor Mr Holliger
believes makes that chance much more likely. 'I would be surprised if we find truly extraterrestrial life that was based on DNA and RNA,' he said. 'There might have been an XNA-world on a different planet.' - Daily Mail.

The Sun's magnetic field is reversing, South becoming North, as it does
approximately every 11 years on a cycle, but this time, something even
stranger is going on: The North is moving much faster than the South,
and space scientists aren't sure why.

"Right now, there's an imbalance between the north and the south poles,"
Jonathan Cirtain, NASA's project scientist for a Japanese solar mission
called Hinode, in a recent article on NASA's website. "The north is already in transition, well ahead of the south pole, and we don't understand why."
Further, the asymmetrically reversing solar magnetic field could have an effect on Earth, resulting in increased solar flares and the accompanying bursts of radioactive particles
called "coronal mass ejections," or CMEs, that can hit Earth and cause
brilliant Northern Lights displays and problematic geomagnetic solar
storms, according to NASA scientists.
"This usually leads to a double peak in the sunspot number and CME rate
as a function of time," Nat Gopalswamy, a solar scientist NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in an email to TPM.

Gopalswamy and his team studied the Sun's shifting magnetic field from
microwave signatures obtained by Japanese radio telescopes and reported
their findings in a paper in the Astrophysical Journal on April 9. Gopalswamy explained that while the Sun's shifting
magnetic poles were first discovered in 1955, the rate at which the
North and South wasn't found to be mismatched until the last few solar
cycles.
To be clear, the magnetic field doesn't just flip, but rather, the Sun
essentially sheds its current magnetic field and regrows a new one every
11 years. Currently, the Northern portion of the Sun is further along
on this process than its Southern counterpart.
Further, the Sun's oddly shifting magnetic field affects the Solar System, though it isn't yet known just how.
"Whether the north pole of the Sun has north or south polarity decides
the entry point of galactic cosmic rays into the heliosphere,"
Gopalswamy told TPM.
The heliosphere
is an enormous magnetic bubble made up of the continual regular
ejection of charged particles from the Sun. It stretches beyond Pluto. - Talking Points Memo.

Since last night (28 April), new strombolian activity has been observed
from Etna's New SE crater. With all likelihood, this announces another
paroxysm to occur in the next few days. This would then be the 26th
since 2011 when the series of eruptions began, or the 7th in 2012. - Volcano Discovery.

A big increase in reports of Asian
tiger shrimp along the U.S. Southeast coast and in the Gulf of Mexico
has federal biologists worried the species is encroaching on native
species' territory. The
shrimp are known to eat their smaller cousins, and sightings of the
massive crustaceans have gone up tenfold in the last year, biologists
say.

Behemoth: This black tiger shrimp was caught in 210 feet of water off the coast of Louisiana; an
invasion of giant cannibal shrimp into America's coastal waters appears to be getting worse

The
black-and-white-striped shrimp can grow 13 inches long and weigh a
quarter-pound, compared to eight inches and a bit over an ounce for
domestic white, brown and pink shrimp. Scientists fear the tigers will bring disease and competition for native shrimp. Both, however, can be eaten by humans. ‘They’re supposed to be very good,’ Pam Fuller, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey told CNN. ‘But they can get very large, sorta like lobsters.’ The last U.S. tiger shrimp farm
closed in Florida in 2004, without ever raising a successful crop,
according to a USGS fact sheet about the species. Reports
of tiger shrimp in U.S. waters rose from a few dozen a year - 21 in
2008, 47 in 2009 and 32 in 2010 - to 331 last year, from North Carolina
to Texas. 'That's a big jump,' Ms Fuller told the Associated Press. And those are just the numbers reported to the government. 'I've had fishermen tell me they have quit bringing them in.

'They
are seeing large numbers in their catch - multiples per night,' said
Morris, who works at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's Centre for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research in
Beaufort, North Carolina. The increase 'is the first indication that we may be undergoing a true invasion of Asian tiger shrimp,' he said. 'Nobody
knows what happened to their stock. But they have not been commonly
caught in the area where that fish farm was,' she said. She
said hundreds were caught along South Carolina, Georgia and Florida
after a storm hit a South Carolina shrimp farm in 1988, but none was
reported in U.S. waters for the next 18 years. Six were reported in
2006, and four in 2007. To
find out whether last year's increase was a one-time spike or the
vanguard of an invasion, the agencies are asking people to keep a wide
eye for tiger shrimp, to report where and when they find them, and bring
back frozen tiger shrimp to help learn where they're coming from. - Daily Mail.

How dry we are. The entire state of Florida was classified as suffering from drought conditions, as of last week. The rain that fell over the weekend did little to help, according to Jim Karels, director of the Florida Forest Service.

Severe drought ground cracks northern Everglades.

What's needed is more — a lot more. "A tropical storm without the wind that gives us a nice 10 inches of rain around the state would do wonders," Karels said. The drought now plaguing Florida has been growing since July 2010, said Karels, whose agency keeps tabs on the state's wildfire potential. Some parts of the state have fallen so far below their normal average rainfall that the deficit has hit 30 inches, he said. Normally Florida's dry season runs from October to May, said state meteorologist Amy Godsey. But without any heavy rainfall from tropical storms last year, the dry season started earlier, she said, and even the winter rainfall was below average, thanks to the phenomenon known as La Niña, which is driven by colder than usual Pacific Ocean temperatures.

In the 16 counties covered by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, commonly known as Swiftmud, this has been the 11th driest winter since records started being kept in 1915. As a result of all that dry weather, Karels said, "you can hardly find a swamp around the state that's wet, and a lot of the lakes have gone dry." His agency has been tracking fires in Polk and Brevard counties and in the Panhandle, he said, and some counties have already banned all burning. Swiftmud's board has imposed once-a-week watering restrictions on Hernando and Citrus counties and other areas north of Tampa Bay, and will likely extend those same restrictions to Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties soon. No relief is likely in the next month, according to Godsey. But La Niña has weakened, she said, and once June begins — bringing with it the traditional start of Florida's hurricane season — the rains are likely to return. - Tampa Bay Times.

Astronomy is one of the few sciences that allows amateur
practitioners to actively take part in real research projects -- be it
monitoring planetary atmospheres or studying distant galaxies. Over recent years, the advance in technology has led to the availability of research-grade telescopes across the Internet such as the Faulkes telescopes in Hawaii and Siding Spring (Australia). It was with these instruments that a team of amateur astronomers have
been the first to re-image Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it makes
its latest dive toward the inner solar system.

The comet, originally discovered in 1969 by Klim Churyumov and
Svetlana Gerasimenko, orbits the sun once every six and a half years. The European Rosetta mission is currently en route
to the comet and, in 2014, the spacecraft will have a close encounter
with the "dirty snowball," dropping a small lander onto its icy surface. At a recent conference for the Rosetta mission with both professional
and amateur astronomers, Faulkes Telescope Pro-Am Program Manager Nick
Howes put forward a detailed plan for long-term observations of the
comet, using the 2-meter Faulkes telescopes. "After attending a hugely successful meeting with representative of
many major professional telescopes and the European Space Agency (ESA),
our proposal to provide ground support for the ESA Rosetta mission was
very well received," Howes told Discovery News. "We'd heard that the VLT
and other large professional observatories had not been able to image
the comet, but we'd already put forward a detailed proposal which
included attempting to image it from April 2012, when the magnitude was
estimated between 23-24."

Despite some uncertainty, Howes' reputation for pushing the Faulkes
telescopes to their limits convinced the professionals that it was
possible and it wasn't long before British Astronomical Association
member Richard Miles managed to capture the comet on April 19, 2012. Following the initial discovery, Howes' team in Italy, Giovanni
Sostero and Ernesto Guido managed to get the confirmation image of the
comet on April 25.The team now plan to work with schools and other amateur astronomers
to obtain follow-up observations in order to refine the comet's orbit,
helping ESA to calculate orbits and trajectories for the Rosetta
mission. Sarah Roberts, Education Director for Faulkes Telescopes, explains:
"We're now hoping to work with the wider amateur community over the
coming years, and at this time, get schools and students imaging the
comet as much as possible, as the data is scientifically valuable, and
will probably lead to some research papers from the pro-am community. It's a remarkable achievement from our 'amateur' teams," said Paul
Roche, Faulkes Telescope Director. "We held back on any announcement of
the first capture, as the minor planet center usually like to have more
than one observation before they confirm a comet recovery, but to find
that the images taken by our telescopes have proved yet again what
amateurs can do, is quite remarkable. 'Amateurs' is such a misnomer in these instances as was evidenced
from the reception and comments made by the professional community at
the Rosetta conference." - Discovery News.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

According to Francisco Nique, president of the Association of Fishermen of Puerto Eten, for about 10 or 12 days have found more than 1,200 dead pelicans along 160 kilometers, between Punta Negra, in Piura , and San Jose creek in Lambayeque.

The birds began to appear dead on the northern coast of the country for
more than 10 days.
Neither the Peruvian Sea Institute or Service of Protected Areas
could explain the phenomenon.

He reported that seven dolphins were found stranded, which add up to more than 3,000 fish dead in northern Peru so far this year. The Peruvian Sea Institute (IMARPE) has not yet determined the cause of death of the birds and said the dolphins may have been killed by a virus, while Nique said the cause could be the paucity of species that function as food or seismic waves for exploration activities in the area.

The National Service of Protected Areas by the State (Sernanp) also failed to explain the phenomenon, but has ruled that the reasons respond to sound waves that are carried out seismic exploration at sea. Implemented a contingency plan to investigate. - Peru 21 [Translated].

As many as 90 percent of reef sharks have disappeared from reefs near populated islands, a new study finds. The research is the first to provide a large-scale estimate of reef sharks in the Pacific, a group of species that includes the gray reef shark, the whitetip reef shark and the tawny nurse shark.

Curious gray reef sharks (Carcharhinus amlyrhynchos) at Kure Atoll, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National
Monument, Hawaii were studied as
part of a study published April 25 in the journal Conservation Biology.

"We estimate that reef shark numbers have dropped substantially around populated islands, generally by more than 90 percent compared to those at the most untouched reefs," said study leader Marc Nadon, a doctoral candidate at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science. "In short, people and sharks don't mix." Nadon and his colleagues pulled shark sighting data from more than 1,607 dives at 46 reefs in the central-western Pacific, which included reefs near the Hawaiian islands and American Samoa as well as extremely isolated reefs nearly devoid of human influence. Though eight species of shark were seen on the dives, the researchers excluded sharks, such as hammerheads, that aren't dependent on reefs. That left them with five shark species to tally: gray reef sharks, blacktip reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks, Galapagos sharks and tawny nurse sharks.

Combining that data with information on human population, habitat complexity, availability of food and sea-surface temperatures, the researchers created models comparing the numbers of sharks at pristine versus human-impacted reefs. "Around each of the heavily populated areas we surveyed — in the main Hawaiian Islands, the Mariana Archipelago, and American Samoa — reef shark numbers were greatly depressed compared to reefs in the same regions that were simply [farther] away from humans." Nadon said in a statement. "We estimate that less than 10 percent of the baseline numbers remain in these areas." The devastation of sharks in areas near human civilization could be the result of illegal fishing, incidental killing or fishing for sport, the researchers report Friday (April 27) in the journal Conservation Biology. Human impact on the reef fish that sharks call dinner could also play a role. Human influences were shown to outweigh natural influences, such as warmer water temperatures, the researchers found. "Our findings underscore the importance of long-term monitoring across gradients of human impacts, biogeographic, and oceanic conditions, for understanding how humans are altering our oceans," said Rusty Brainard, head of the coral reef ecosystem division at NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, which conducted the shark surveys. - FOX News.

Iran's Navy has the ability to deploy its vessels three miles off the US east coast, a high-ranking Iranian Navy commander was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.

"Our naval forces are so powerful that we have a presence in all the waters of the world and, if needed, we can move to within three miles of New York," Revolutionary Guards Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi was quoted as saying during a speech to students at the University of Yazd earlier this week. The admiral was speaking
on the anniversary the failed 1980 US attempt to rescue American
hostages held captive in the US embassy in Tehran. Fadavi said dominance in the Persian Gulf is "the only tool for the Americans to rule the world," charging that this prompts the US to "confront any other power that threatens their status."

Meanwhile, Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said Iran was capable of crippling or disabling US aircraft carriers, Fars said. "First, sinking an aircraft carrier is not a complicated task," Hajizadeh said. "Second, an aircraft carrier is equipped with so many advanced, delicate, and sensitive devices … that it could be incapacitated by even the smallest explosion." Earlier, Fox News reported that the US military has deployed several F-22 fighter jets to an allied base less than 200 miles (320 km) from Iran. According to the report, the US Air Force strongly denied ordering the deployment s a show of force against Iran, or that it is in some way related to a potential strike on the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities. It claimed the measure is part of routine activity and "security cooperation with regional partners." - YNET News.

Strong winds and heavy rain have brought down trees and power lines across England and Wales. The Environment Agency has issued warnings of localised flooding in the South West, Midlands, North East and East of England. And thousands of homes in south Wales, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Somerset have been left without electricity.

A tree blocked this road in Dinas Powys in the Vale of Glamorgan before it was moved on Sunday

The heavy rain comes as many areas are currently in a state of drought following two unusually dry winters. Forecasters say an area of heavy rain and strong winds has been spreading northwards across the southern half of the UK, with more than 38mm (1.5ins) of rain falling in some places overnight. The Met Office said: "The public should be aware that this may lead to some local flooding given the recent wet conditions, and that north-easterly winds will exceed 50-60 mph in some locations, bringing the risk of falling trees." It has now lifted an amber "be prepared" warning for the River Severn in Shropshire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. The Environment Agency (EA) has 18 flood warnings in place on rivers including the Wid in Essex; the Ouzel at Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire; the Derwent in East Yorkshire, and the River Stour in Warwickshire. Ten of the flood warnings are for the South West, including in Devon for the River Yarty at Axminster and the River Otter at Honiton, and Doniford Stream in Somerset. Among those areas also subject to warnings were parts of the Ouse at York, where the river flooded footpaths following torrential rain on Thursday. The Ouse is currently 9ft 2in (2.8m) above normal summer levels, the EA said. A flood warning also relates to riverside properties in Chelmsford, and the area around Essex County Cricket Ground in the city. There are more than 140 alerts in place, warning of possible flooding in parts of England and Wales, except for the North West and Cumbria.

Trees have been brought down in Devon, blocking some roads, and
rail services between Exeter and Plymouth have been disrupted because
of debris on the line at Totnes

Southern Electric said about 1,000 homes in Devizes, Calne, and
Potterne, Wiltshire, had been affected by a power outage after power
cables were brought down in high winds. The firm said about 3,000 homes
in Watlington and in Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire are also without
power

Drought Unaffected: Also in Wales, drivers are also being warned to take care on the M4 because of fallen trees, and one lane became blocked eastbound near Bridgend. Firefighters in south, mid- and west Wales say they have been busy dealing with minor weather-related calls. Between 40mm and 60mm of rain has been forecast for east Wales. BBC weather forecaster Philip Avery said the wet and windy conditions will continue across Cornwall and Wales overnight. He said the weather will become drier across affected parts of England and Wales on Monday, although more rainfall was forecast for later in the week. The generally dry conditions in Scotland and Northern Ireland will continue into next week. The weekend downpours come at the end of a wet week for England and Wales, in which 42mm (1.7in) of rain fell in the South East and 55mm (2.2in) in the South West, which has now had 166% of the average rainfall for April. An Environment Agency spokesman said: "The Environment Agency is closely monitoring the forecast and rainfall particularly in Worcestershire, as the river levels are already higher than normal in the rivers Severn, Teme and Avon. "Environment Agency officers are out monitoring river levels, checking defences and clearing any potential blockages, such as fallen branches and debris, to reduce the risk of flooding." The Environment Agency said all regions had now received above average rainfall for April, boosting river levels and providing relief for farmers, gardeners and wildlife in drought areas. But it also said that groundwater levels remained low and the rain was not yet making a difference to the drought conditions. Soil affected by prolonged dry weather increases the risk of flash floods because heavy rain quickly runs off hard, compacted ground. - BBC.

Nicaraguan Experts reported Sunday more seismic activity at Masaya volcano, about 20 kilometers south of Managua, with an increase in expulsions of sulfur gases, which keeps the disaster warning system in high alert.

According to the report, a crack in the main crater causes higher emissions and a sound similar to a jet engine. Specialists of the National System for Prevention, Mitigation and Attention to Disasters (SINAPRED) and the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (INETER), told the press that they detected this unusual behavior several days ago, but for now there is no reason for alarm.

The INETER geophysics director, Angelica Munoz, told the site El 19 Digital they monitor Masaya's situation closely because of rising emissions and temperature above the normal range. Technical teams assess the seismic tremor, but there is no emergency declared and the gates of Masaya Volcano National Park remain open to the public, said the director of INETER, Jorge Castro, and the executive secretary of SINAPRED, Guillermo Gonzalez. - Prensa Latina.

Spain is in a crisis "of huge proportions", the foreign minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, has said after official figures showed unemployment had hit almost 25% amid concerns that the country's banking sector may need a €120bn (£98bn) bailout before the end of the year. The jobless rate stood at an 18-year high after the latest figures showed it at 24.4%, or 5.6 million people out of work. Unemployment is now the focus of debate in the country as policymakers worry about the effects of a collapse in consumer spending, a drop in tax receipts and spiralling bad debts.

Standard and Poor's, the ratings agency that downgraded Spain's credit status on Thursday, said it was concerned the situation was worsening and rising defaults on loans and mortgages could quickly undermine the banking sector. Critics of the rightwing administration headed by Mariano Rajoy said government policies were partly to blame for making the situation worse. The rate has soared on the back of labour reforms that make it easier and cheaper to sack people. Some 374,300 jobs were lost in the first three months of this year, representing an estimated loss of €953m in income tax receipts. An austerity budget passed last month which pushed up education and health charges while cutting benefit payouts is also blamed for undermining household incomes and prolonging the recession. On Friday the economy minister, Luis de Guindos, said VAT and other indirect taxes would have to rise next year to raise a further €8bn. In four of the country's autonomous regions the jobless rate is over 30% and across the country 52% of under-25s are out of work, leaving 1.72m households without a single member in work. Engracia Hidalgo, the employment minister, said there were "no positive indicators," while García-Margallo described the figures as "terrible for everyone and terrible for the government".

Of Spain's 47 million inhabitants, only 17,433,200 are in work. In a radio interview, García-Margallo urged the EU to do more to promote growth. "What's bad for us is bad for them," he said. "It's like the Titanic – if it sinks, the first-class passengers go down with it." He defended government reforms, saying there was no alternative. "When you take strong measures to treat a sick person, at first they become weaker, but if you don't apply this treatment they won't get better," he said. However, austerity alone was not enough, he added. Spanish banks have long been suspected of disguising billions of euros of bad debts on their books after a property price collapse wiped more than 60% off the value of homes in some areas. Many families have maintained mortgage payments during the crisis, but a steep rise in unemployment has sent the number of bad loans soaring. The government is considering whether to create a holding company for the banks' toxic real-estate assets after three rounds of forced clean-ups and consolidations in the financial sector failed to draw a line under the problem. S and P, which downgraded the country's rating from A to BBB+, said: "It is not going to be an easy job for most Spanish banks to find funding in the market. So the state may be called for at some point. But that, for now at least, is something the Spanish government seems to be unwilling to contemplate." - Guardian.

New research suggests that global warming
is causing the cycle of evaporation and rainfall over the oceans to
intensify more than scientists had expected, an ominous finding that may
indicate a higher potential for extreme weather in coming decades.
By measuring changes in salinity on the ocean’s surface, the researchers
inferred that the water cycle had accelerated by about 4 percent over
the last half century. That does not sound particularly large, but it is
twice the figure generated from computerized analyses of the climate.

If the estimate holds up, it implies that the water cycle could quicken
by as much as 20 percent later in this century as the planet warms,
potentially leading to more droughts and floods. “This provides another piece of independent evidence that we need to
start taking the problem of global warming seriously,” said Paul J. Durack, a researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the lead author of a paper being published Friday in the journal Science. The researchers’ analysis found that over the half century that began in
1950, salty areas of the ocean became saltier, while fresh areas became
fresher. That change was attributed to stronger patterns of evaporation
and precipitation over the ocean. The new paper is not the first to find an intensification of the water
cycle, nor even the first to calculate that it might be fairly large.
But the paper appears to marshal more scientific evidence than any paper
to date in support of a high estimate. “I am excited about this paper,” said Raymond W. Schmitt, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
in Massachusetts, who offered a critique of the work before publication
but was otherwise not involved. “The amplification pattern that he sees
is really quite dramatic.” The paper is the latest installment in a long-running effort by
scientists to solve one of the most vexing puzzles about global warming.

While basic physics suggests that warming must accelerate the cycle of
evaporation and rainfall, it has been difficult to get a handle on how
much acceleration has already occurred, and thus to project the changes
that are likely to result from continued planetary warming. The fundamental problem is that measurements of evaporation and
precipitation over the ocean — which covers 71 percent of the earth’s
surface, holds 97 percent of its water and is where most evaporation and
precipitation occurs — are spotty at best. To overcome that, scientists
are trying to use the changing saltiness of the ocean’s surface as a
kind of rain gauge. That works because, as rain falls on a patch of the ocean, it freshens
the surface water. Conversely, in a region where evaporation exceeds
rainfall, the surface becomes saltier. The variations in salinity are large enough that they can be detected from space, and NASA recently sent up a new satellite, Aquarius,
for that purpose. But it will take years to obtain results, and
scientists like Dr. Durack are trying to get a jump on the problem by
using older observations, including salinity measurements taken by ships
as well as recent measurements from an army of robotic floats launched
in an international program called Argo. Dr. Schmitt cautioned that the work by Dr. Durack and his co-authors, the Australian researchers Susan E. Wijffels and Richard J. Matear, would need to be scrutinized and reproduced by other scientists. Another expert not involved in the work, Kevin E. Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research
in Boulder, Colo., said that Dr. Durack had produced intriguing
evidence that global warming was already creating changes in the water
cycle at a regional scale. But Dr. Trenberth added that he doubted that
the global intensification could be as large as Dr. Durack’s group had
found. “I think he might have gone a bit too far,” he said.

Assuming that the paper withstands scrutiny, it suggests that a global
warming of about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past half century has been
enough to intensify the water cycle by about 4 percent. That led Dr.
Durack to project a possible intensification of about 20 percent as the
planet warms by several degrees in the coming century. That would be approximately twice the amplification shown by the
computer programs used to project the climate, according to Dr. Durack’s
calculations. Those programs are often criticized by climate-change
skeptics who contend that they overestimate future changes, but Dr.
Durack’s paper is the latest of several indications that the estimates
may actually be conservative. The new paper confirms a long-expected pattern for the ocean that also
seems to apply over land: areas with a lot of rainfall in today’s
climate are expected to become wetter, whereas dry areas are expected to
become drier. In the climate of the future, scientists fear, a large acceleration of
the water cycle could feed greater weather extremes. Perhaps the
greatest risk from global warming, they say, is that important
agricultural areas could dry out, hurting the food supply, as other regions get more torrential rains and floods. - NY Times.

Yesterday Metro Manila sizzled at 36.4 degrees Celsius, now the highest temperature in Metro Manila recorded for the year.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Administration (PAGASA) said Friday’s temperature is a record breaker after hitting 36.2 for the last two days. Not yet the highest Weather forecaster Jun Galang said the 36.4 degrees Celsius temperature was recorded around 3 p.m. yesterday. Yesterday, however, the highest nationwide is actually Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija’s 37.2. It was followed by 36.5 degrees Celsius in Tuguegarao City in Cagayan. The highest temperature of the year was recorded in Clark at 38.4 degrees Celsius on April 13. Galang said they are expecting the heat wave to continue because of a ridge of high pressure area extending across Luzon.

According to Philippine Daily Inquirer Online, the record to beat in Metro Manila is May14, 1987’s 38.5 degrees Celsius. Philippine Star reported other highest recorded temperatures in the country: 42.2 degrees Celsius in Tuguegarao City on May 11, 1969; 38.5 degrees Celsius at the Science Garden, Quezon City on May 14, 1987; 38.5 degrees Celsius in Sangley Point, Cavite on May 16, 1987; 38.1 degrees Celsius at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Parañaque City on May 18, 1969; and 38.6 degrees Celsius in Port Area, Manila on May 17, 1915. Amid the heat, today’s weather for the whole archipelago is said to be partly cloudy with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms in the afternoon or evening. PAGASA said the country will experience hot weather until the end of May. - POC.

High winds swept through a beer tent where 200 people gathered after a Cardinals game Saturday, killing one and seriously injuring five others. But the owner of the St. Louis bar that hosted the crowd said it was lightning -- not wind -- that killed the patron. Seventeen were hospitalized and up to 100 people were treated at the scene after straight-line winds whipped through a large tent outside Kilroy's Sports Bar, near Busch Stadium.

One person died Saturday and more than a dozen were taken to a hospital
with injuries
after high winds blew over a beer tent near Busch Stadium
in St. Louis.

The crowd was celebrating after the Cardinals had beaten Milwaukee 7-3, a game that ended about 80 minutes earlier. Eddie Roth, director of the St. Louis Department of Public Safety, said winds of about 50 mph shattered aluminum poles that held up the tent, located south of the stadium. The force of the wind Saturday afternoon blew the tent onto an adjacent railroad bridge. Both Roth and Deputy Fire Chief John Altmann said they could not confirm a cause of death for the man killed. Roth said the man appeared to be in his 50s. His name was not immediately released. "It was crazy, scary," said Annie Randall, whose family owns Kilroy's. "We're just so sorry this happened." Janece Friederich was in the parking lot at Kilroy's when she saw dark clouds approaching. Before she could get out of the car and go into the bar, she saw the tent fly into the air. "It looked like it just got ripped out because it ended up 100 feet in the air on top of the railroad tracks," Friederich said. Kilroy's owner Art Randall described a short burst of a storm -- perhaps five seconds, he said -- with a massive wind that lifted the huge tent, threw it high into the air and sent the aluminum poles and most everything in the tent airborne. When he heard the boom, he initially thought a train had derailed into the tent. As the wind blew, a bolt of lightning crashed into the bar, Randall said. He said firefighters told him it was a lightning strike -- not flying debris -- that killed the man. "At some point in that five seconds, we were getting lightning strikes, and apparently one of our customers got hit by lightning right in the middle of the dance floor," Randall said.

The bar owner said he screamed for help and three customers ran over to administer CPR, but they couldn't save the man. Randall looked around "and saw 50 bodies scattered everywhere." He described a scene in which barstools, pedestals and a 100-pound bass amplifier were flying through the air. The disc jockey working the party was struck by the amp and knocked unconscious, he said, and people were scurrying to help one another. "My wife had people in the beer cooler -- we had the beer cooler loaded with injuries," Randall said. "It was a triage deal." Most of the injuries were minor -- cuts, bruises, twisted ankles, Altmann said. He did not have details about those with serious injuries. Several bars and restaurants in the area around Busch Stadium set up tents throughout the baseball season to handle overflow crowds -- Cardinals games are typically sellouts, or close to it. In addition to the baseball game, about 20,000 fans were downtown Saturday for a St. Louis Blues hockey playoff game. Building Commissioner Frank Oswald said Kilroy's was granted a tent permit on April 11 and it passed inspection a couple of days later. Oswald said the city requires tents to be able to withstand winds up to 90 mph, but he declined to speculate on whether Kilroy's could face discipline. Both Oswald and Altmann cautioned that patrons need to understand that a tent is not a safe place to be in bad weather. St. Louis had been under thunderstorm watches and warnings for some time prior to the incident at Kilroy's. "Tents are temporary structures," Oswald said. "They are certainly not designed in any stretch of the imagination to handle weather like this." About two hours after the incident at Kilroy's, tornado sirens blared throughout the city after a funnel cloud sighting. There were several reports of tree damage, power lines down and damage from hail that in some parts of the region reportedly was as big as tennis balls. By late evening, about 2,600 Ameren UE electrical customers were without power in the city. - ABC News.

Sudan has reportedly declared a state of emergency along its border with South Sudan after weeks of clashes. The decree will apply in the border districts of the South Kordofan, White Nile and Sennar states, according to the state-run Suna news agency. Meanwhile, South Sudan has said it is willing to pull its police forces out of the disputed Abyei border region.

The current clashes began earlier this month when South Sudan occupied the Heglig oilfield area for 10 days. The state of emergency "gives the right to the president and anyone with his mandate" to establish special courts, in consultation with the chief justice, according to Suna. There were fresh skirmishes between the two countries' forces on Sunday, reports the BBC's Andrew Harding from the Sudan-South Sudan border. South Sudanese forces fired at helicopter gunships, prompting Sudanese artillery to respond, our correspondent says. South Sudanese authorities have meanwhile informed the United Nations that it is prepared to withdraw police forces from the disputed region of Abyei. "The minister of interior will enhance the withdrawal of South Sudan's police force from Abyei... as long as the UN and African Union will look after its citizens in the area", a South Sudanese spokesman told AFP news agency.

Also on Sunday, a South African de-mining company said two of its employees, who were among four foreigners detained by Sudanese forces on Saturday, were there for "humanitarian work". "We are doing... landmine clearance on a UN contract and our members have full UN immunity. The abduction took place well within South Sudan territory," Ashley Williams, CEO of state-owned Mechem, told AFP. The four - from the UK, Norway, South Africa and South Sudan - have been flown to the Sudanese capital Khartoum for "further investigations". Sudanese officials insist the men were aiding South Sudan, a charge rejected by the South. Tension between the countries has been rising since the Heglig oilfield was occupied by forces from South Sudan earlier this month. They left about a week ago, after holding the area for 10 days. Sudan has been accused of carrying out a number of air raids on South Sudan this week. It denies the charges. South Sudan became independent from Sudan last year after a civil war that lasted two decades and in which an estimated 1.5 million people were killed. - BBC.